Refrigerating apparatus of the absorption type



Dec. 13, 1927. Q 1,652,458

A. RICHTER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS OF THE ABSORPTION TYPE Filed Feb. 9, 1925 Inventor:

f7 P I lid Patented Dec. 13, 1927. v

UNITED STATES 1,652,458 PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED RIGHTE B, OF DO'BERITZ, NEAR BERLIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO A.-G. FUR 'HANDELS- UND INDUSTRIEWERTE. GLARUS, 0F GLARUS, SWITZERLAND.

BEFRIGERATING APPARATUS OF THE ABSORPTION TYPE.

' application filed February 9,1925, Serial No. 8,024, and in Germany December-14, 1924.

' The invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of the absorption type and has for 1ts object to provide an arrangement which will insure the convenient control and regua lation of the apparatus by even an inexperienced attendant without possibility of damage or injury to person or apparatus, as from explosion due to improper mampulation of types of refrigerating apparatus now in common use.

In the accompanying drawing;

. Fig. 1 is a view showing diagrammatically the invention in connection with a refrigerating apparatus, 7

Fig. 2 is a detail section of the valve,

Fig. 3 is a section on the line III-III of -'Fig. 2.

As shown, in Figure 1 of the accompanying' drawings, the apparatus consists of a boiler 1, a water separator 2, a condensing coil 3, an evaporator a and a cooling water reservoir 5. During the boiling period the refrigerating means, e. g. the ammonia, expelled from the heated boiler l in the form of vapour, passes through the pipe 6 to the water separator 2, from the latter through the pipe 7 into the condenser 3 and thence through the pipe 8 into the evaporator 4. In this way the ammonia is liquefied in the condenser 3 and again evaporated in the evaporator a by the latter absorbing heat from the surroundings e. g. from the interior of a refrigerating safe, into which the evaporator 4 has been built. As soon as the ammonia has been completely expelled from the boiler, the heat is cut' oil, whereupon it is cooled in a suitable manner, whereby a low pressure is produced in .the boiler and the ammonia vapour is drawn back into the boiler 1. When this takes place the cooling of the condenser 3 (water supply) is preferably shut off.

It often happens however that steam is forced along with the ammonia vapours. As it is well known ammonia or another refrigerating means is dissolved in a liquid, preferably in water, and during boiling the ammonia is expelled from this solution.

Such apparatus therefore often require that liquids accumulatedxin the evaporator be'drawn ofl, and for this reason it has already been proposed to employ a ipe which draws the liquid up, such pipe eing connected at the lowest possible point of the evaporator and returned to the boiler in a suitable manner. If by cooling the boiler a low pressure is produced therein and if the drawing-up pipe'is connected to the boiler, the liquid deposit in the lowerpart of the evaporator is also drawn up by the low pressure, i. e. the deposit returns to the absorber.

In order that this drawing-up may be effected by the boiler itself it has already been proposed to connect this drawing-up-pipe to that conduit which otherwise is used for expelling and for drawing back the refrigerating means (ammonia and the like).

In Fig. '1 of the accompanying drawings 10 denotes the drawing-up-pipe connected to'the lowest possible point of the evaporator 4 and, in order to clearly illustrate the arrangement, it is shown as passing upwards on the outside of the refrigerating safe which however would not be done in practice. This pipe 10 is at a point situated above the condenser 3-connected to the conduit 7. Care must be taken that the refrigerating means (ammonia or the like) does not enter simultaneously the condenser 3 and the drawing-up-pipe 10 during the ordinary running of the apparatus and for this reason a shut-'ofi' valve must be placed into the conduit 7 where it branchesofi to the condenser and to the pipe 10. Heretofore for this shutofi valve a three-way cock was chosen which has given rise to the greatest and most dangerous disturbances in the running of the apparatus. If the three-way cock was not attended to in the most careful manner and brought into one of its two end positions, but on the contrary it was left in an intermediate position the outlet for the boiled up ammonia gases from the boiler 1 to the condenser and evaporator was shut ofi during boiling. Consequently the pressure in the boiler, separator and conduit 7 due to the expansion 7 of the ammonia gases became dangerously high and it has happened that such apparatus exploded. 1

It may perhaps be argued" that by giving proper instructions, by marking the threeway cocks so as to indicate the end movement of the valve cone, and so forth, care could have been taken that such wrong adjustments with such disastrous consequences might be avoided. The invention is however based on the principle that all parts of the apparatus must be so constructed that the accidental neglect to properly adjust and manipulate the three-way cock as might readily occur with inexperienced servants in domes;

tic life cannot in any way endanger the apparatus and its surroundings. Since this intermediate member shut-oil valve) is such an important factor 1n the safe operation of an otherwise eificient apparatus, it has been the object of the invention to construct this shut-01f valve itself in such a manner that even its wrong manipulation can never endanger the apparatus.

Thus the invention consists therein that the shut-off valve in all possible positions of its cone or equivalent element and under all circumstances efiects a communication between the boiler on the one hand and the evaporator on the other hand, in which case it is immaterial whether the connection is over the condenser or over the drawing-uppipe. This alone gives the absolute guarantee that in any position, proper or improper, of the shut-off valve, the expelled ammonia vapours pass from the boiler into the evaporator and thus into a space of a relatively low temperature which on the one hand cools and liquefies these vapours and which on the other hand is. sufficiently large for the expansion of them so that a dangerous increase of the pressure of the vapours is now once and for all avoided.

One mode of constructing such a shut-off valve is shewn diagrammatically and in section in Fig. 2 of the drawing. In said figure a cylindrical casing 14 is shewn having a reduced portion and being fitted with three pipe connections. The port 15 is connected to the conduit 7 (Fig. 1), the port 16 to the pipe 10 and the port 17 to the conduit leading to the condenser 3. These pipe connec tions are welded together with the other conduits or connected therewith in another suitable rigid and tight manner.

During the ordinary running of the ap aratus the expelled refrigerating means is intended to pass through the port 15 and the shut-off valve into the port 17 or to flow in a reverse direction when absorption takes place. On the other hand when drawing the deposit up the pipe 10 shallbe connected tothe boiler 1, while the condenser 3 is cut out so that a direct flow from port 16 to port 15 takes place.

In accordance therewith these three pipe ports 15, 16 and 17 open into a common cylindrical chamber 18 partially fitted with a thread 19 into which is screwed a double cone 20. This thread and eventuall also the cone are fitted in one or several p aces with recesses 21 of a suitable depth and running in an axial direction.

It will be seen that when turning the double cone in the direction of the arrow 22 the cone 23 is forced against the seat 24 thereby closing an outlet openin from the chamber 18 into the port 16 and thus into the draw-. ing-up-pipe or from this pipe back into the chamber 18. If however the double cone 20.

is turned in theopposite direction, the cone 23 is lifted off its seat and the other cone 25 is forced against the seat 26 so that the passage is closed leading from the chamber 18 into the port 17 and thus into the condenser 3 and reversely from the condenser 3 back into the chamber 18.

The turning of the double cone 20 is for instance efiected by means of a spindle 27 having a square head 28 on its out-erend. The spindle 27 is by means of a suitable packing 29 arranged tightly within the cas ing 14, while a stufiing box 30 or the like is placed over the end of the spindleand screwed into the casing.

In the position of the double cone 2O shewn on the drawing there is no connection between the ort 16 and the boiler. The vapours can ow from the port 15 through the chamber 18 to the port 17 and reversely by these vapours entering in the first instance the chamber 18 around the double cone 20 and then passing through the notches 21 in the thread of the double cone into the other part of the chamber 18 and from here into the port 17 and reversely.

In the other end position of the double cone 20 in which the cone 25 is resting against the seat 26 thus closing the passage in the port 17 and therefore also to the condenser 3, the vapours can pass from the pipe 10 into the port 16, from here directly into the chamber 18 and finally into the port 15 and thus into the absorber'l.

If now the shut-off valve 20 has been improperly operated and not been brought into one of its end positions butif it has rather been allowed to remain in an intermediate position it is obvious that the evaporator and condenser remain connected to the boiler 1. In this case none of the cones 23, 25 will rest on their seat 2 1 or 26 and thus a free communication between the boiler on the one hand and the condenser or the evaporator on the other hand can take place. The wrong adjustment of the double cone 20 will then be recognized by a poor cooling or refrigerating effect but not too late to avoid damage by explosion of the apparatus. The invention may naturally be carried out in different ways, and in a similar manner as it is done with the described and illustrated device prevent an improperoperation of the controlling valve by giving the screw thread 19 a high pitch so that for instance a turning of the spindle 27 by 180 will sufiice to cause one of the cones 23 or 25 to rest tightly on its seat, and one can thus by means of handmechanisms ensure a good handling of the valve in an easy manner.

I claim as my invention:

1. Refrigerating apparatus working on the absorption principle, comprising a generator-absorber, a condenser-evaporator, a

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condenser-evaporator and leading to the generator-absorber, connecting pipes to the condenser-evaporator, a shut-01f member for the solvent-returning pipe on the one hand and the connecting pipe to the condenserevaporator on the other hand, said shut-01f member closing in a fluid-tight manner in one end position the connection between the solvent-returning pi e and the generatorabsorber and in its ot er end position closing the connection between the condenser-evaporator and the generator-absorber and in all its intermediate positions leaving always 0 en a connection between the generatora sorber on the one hand or the solventreturning pipe on the other hand and the condenser-evaporator.

2. Refrigerating apparatus working on the absorption principle comprising a generator-absorber, a condenser-evaporator, a pipe for returning solvent connected to said condenser-evaporator and leading to the gen-. erator-absorber, connecting fipipes to the condenser-evaporator, a shut-o member for the solvent-returning pipe on the one hand and the connecting pipe to the condenser-evaporator on the other hand, said shut-off member closing in a fluid-tight manner in one end position the connection between the solvent-returning pipe and the generatorabsorber and in its other end position closing the connection between the condenserevaporator and the generator-absorber and in all its intermediate positions leaving open a connection of sufficient cross-sectional area between the generator-absorberon the one hand and the solvent-returning pipe and the condenser-evaporator on the other hand, said shut off member including a chamber in communica-tion with the solvent-returning pi and the pipes leading to the generator-a ,sorber and to the condenser, and a valve arranged in said chamber adapted in one of its two .end positions to close the solventreturning pipe and in its other end position to close the mouth of the condenser.

3. Refrigerating apparatus as claimed in claim 2, characterized by the feature that the double valve comprises a double cone having a screw-threaded part which engages with an internally screw-threaded part of the chamber into which the connecting pipes to the generator-absorber and to the condenser, as well as the solvent-returning pipe,

open, the said double cone also having oneor more grooves parallel to the axis of its screw-threaded part, arranged in such a way that by rotating the double cone in one direction or the other, either the mouth of the solvent-returning pipe or the mouth of, the connecting pipe to the condenser is shut off, while in all intermediate positions of the double cone a connection between all the pipes is open.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. v

' ALFRED RICHTER.

pipe leading to the 

